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Hello everyone,

 

Just out of interest, have any of you been approached by parents who are given childcare vouchers from their employers to be used in registered settings?

Well I have had my first enquiry from a prospective parent, and have had

to contact relevant people for information as no information has been previously received.

Apparently, the government is on a big drive in this tax year 2005/2006 to get employers to offer these as way of incentives for working parents as they can be tax/NI Free, and are paid in the employee's wages in batches of £50. There are numerous bodies (I know of at least 7) that are offering the schemes to companies. Has anyone else had experience of this?

 

Interested to hear from you all. may be another bit of paperwork to do!!!!

 

Love kizzy xx :o

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I had a parent ask me just before the holidays if we accepted childcare vouchers and I had to say not at the moment. This parent worked for the Co-op. It is something we will all need to be looking into in the near future as this is the way paying for childcare is going to go.

Who did you contact Kizzy?

Linda

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buckdendaynursery@btopenworld.com

QUOTE(kizzy @ Apr 28 2005,

13:56)

Hi,

 

Currently we have 6 or 7 children who's parents use the voucher system.  We are currently registered with 4 childcare voucher companies. There isn't much involved with regards to paperwork so don't worry!! :)

 

Becky

 

Hello everyone,

 

Just out of interest, have any of you been approached by parents who are given childcare vouchers from their employers to be used in registered settings?

Well I have had my first enquiry from a prospective parent, and have had

to contact relevant people for information as no information has been previously received.

Apparently, the government is on a big drive in  this tax year 2005/2006 to get employers to offer these as way of incentives for working parents as they can be tax/NI Free, and are paid in the employee's wages in batches of £50. There are numerous bodies (I know of at least 7) that are offering the schemes to companies. Has anyone else had experience of this?

 

Interested to hear from you all. may be another bit of paperwork to do!!!!

 

Love kizzy xx :o

30296[/snapback]

:D

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Hi kizzy :)

 

We have been accepting childcare vouchers for two years now, we use two companies (busy bees and sodexho pass).

 

I find them great, the parents bring in the vouchers, i use a free phone number to redeem them and they arrive in my bank account three days later. They also send you a receipt to confirm this. (No bank charges incurred as with cheques etc.)

 

I also pay some of my staff with busy bee vouchers and this is very simple, just a case of setting up a direct debit.

 

If anyone is looking at raising their fees, this is great to advertise at the same time, it generally means the parents have the opportunity, by using the vouchers, to save the amount the fees have increased. :o

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Hi preschool!

 

My setting has lots of parents who use these!!

 

They are usually for daycare, rather than sessional, which is why some of you may be unsure. There is no hassle at all with them, my boss thinks they're brilliant and, when it comes to finances he can be hard to please ! :o

 

Sue :D

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I have one parent who uses these vouchers, the agent is Busy Bees, and as previously said, no hassle at all, phone up, give a reference number, the voucher amount and the money's in the bank :D

 

There is a parent info page on this subject in Nursery World ( to photocopy and hand out) although I only skimmed through the article it did seem a bit confusing, as all matters "Tax" are when written in balck and white :o

 

LUCY, Is the system easy as an employer paying wages? I've thought of it although most staff are under Tax / N.I. limits but because some are just over ( literally by pennies) I have to pay Tax credits through PAYE to one member of staff. If I had no N.I./ Tax reductions from PAYE then my employee would get her Tax credits direct to her and not through me.

So, if the system is easy it would be worth me doing it.

 

Peggy

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hi everyone,

 

hi Linda, the contact was at the EYDCP work and life balance officer (i think, can't lay my hands on it at mo!!!desk is a bit messy with admin xD )

wnt to my funding person who redirected me. The vouchers I have been offered are by ACCOR. This contact sent me a childcare voucher procedure for Bedfordshire ( don't know if it could be different in your area), but I also searched the net for my own ref and found the ACCOR website, I was just interested about other experiences..... it's good to share!!!!!

 

Thanxs for all the replys and info..

 

kizzy xx :o

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  • 1 year later...

Does anybody have any uptodate information/experience of childcare vouchers? Is this paid as well as the NEG? As you can see I'm not at all suire of how they work.

 

Just had an enquiry from a parent about them.

 

Thanks

Deb

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Guest Wolfie

I'm not VERY knowledgeable about them but know that some employers offer them as part of an employees salary - there are some tax advantages to having part of you salary as these I think? The two companies that I know of that administer childcare vouchers are Busy Bees and Accor - they might have websites that you can get some information from?

 

When I managed my nursery, I accepted these vouchers from parents - it was no hassle, they handed the vouchers to me and I rang the company up to redeem them -then the money was paid straight into the account.

Edited by Wolfie
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One of my parents uses the Care 4 U vouchers and we have no problems. I think this was mentioend again in this years budget but didn;t take too much notice of it as they seemed to be the same but maybe they have increased the amount you can offset.

Nikki

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I have just applied for busy bees vouchers as teachers can use them in Lancashire. I will receive the vouchers which I will give to the breakfast and after school club that my daughter attends. They take the money out of my wage before they take out tax and national insurance so it will be quite a saving although how much exactly I wont know until my next payslip.

 

They just asked if the school was an eligible provider and I gave details of the school and they had all the details on their records.

 

I will ask at work what they actually do with the vouchers as a teacher uses the vouchers to pay for the extended services at our nursery.

 

Will let you know

Sue

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Guest HelenW

I take any employer scheme vouchers, they are good for the employee as they do not pay NI on this part of their salary. They are easy to process, the money is guaranteed as it has already been taken from their salary, there are no bank charges and payment is usually quick. It can be from a bit organised scheme like accor, busy bees etc. Or any employer can set this up directly with you but doing a direct debit into your bank account. I have paid one of my employoees in vouchers also. You still use the NEG in the same way, vouchers would be used for any fees in excess of the NEG. It helps make childcare more affordable for parents.

 

Helen

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Some posts ago the question was asked 'are they payable as well as NEG' - it's for different things, is basically the answer! If children are attending just for the 'Grant sessions' (as we tend to refer to them), then vouchers are not acceptable, as NEG covers that, however if it's for childcare additional to, or instead of NEG sessions (perhaps it's for 'wrap around' or they have their NEG entitlement in a maintained setting, for example) then it's fine!

 

Hope that's clear - if not, shout and I'll try again :o

 

Sue

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One of the parents at Pre-school gave me Accor vouchers. I phoned them as I was not registered with them. They told me to download a registration form from their website, complete it and send it off with the vouchers. The first payment should be in my bank (via BACS) in about 7-10 days, as it's the first payment. After that it will go into the bank after I phone to give the reference number and the amount to be paid in - seems straight forward.

 

Sue J

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